Ariane 5 takes shape for Juice mission

The upper stage of the Ariane 5 rocket that will launch ESA’s Juice mission to Jupiter is seen here being readied to hoist atop the core stage and boosters in the launcher assembly building at Europe’s Spaceport in French Guiana. Then, Juice itself will be fuelled, sealed inside its protective fairing and mounted in readiness for rollout to the launch pad a couple days ahead of liftoff, scheduled for 13 April 2023.

As with other Ariane 5 launch campaigns, components were transported by ship from manufacturing sites in Europe before preparation and vertical assembly at the spaceport.

Juice is humankind’s next bold mission to the outer Solar System. It will make detailed observations of gas giant Jupiter and its three large ocean-bearing moons: Ganymede, Callisto and Europa. This ambitious mission will characterise these moons with a powerful suite of remote sensing, geophysical and in situ instruments to discover more about these compelling destinations as potential habitats for past or present life. Juice will monitor Jupiter’s complex magnetic, radiation and plasma environment in depth and its interplay with the moons, studying the Jupiter system as an archetype for gas giant systems across the Universe.   

Find out more about Juice in ESA’s launch kit